Hen Eglwys is a Grade II* listed building in the Neath Port Talbot local planning authority area, Wales. First listed on 12 November 1952. Chapel.

Hen Eglwys

WRENN ID
peeling-solder-gorse
Grade
II*
Local Planning Authority
Neath Port Talbot
Constituency
Aberafan Maesteg MP: Stephen Kinnock (Lab)
Country
Wales
Date first listed
12 November 1952
Type
Chapel
Address
Hen Eglwys, Cwm Bach, Margam
OS grid reference
SS 801 865
Coordinates
51.5648, -3.73089
Source
Cadw listing

Also on this page: flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

Hen Eglwys is a roofless chapel constructed from Sutton stone, featuring a battered plinth and quoins. The east and west ends, along with the south side, stand at full height, while the north side remains up to 1.5 meters high. The building consists of a single range that combines the nave and chancel. The entrance is located at the west end, marked by a segmental arched head, although the exterior dressings are missing. Above the entrance and slightly to the left is a large window opening with a shallow pointed head. Some upper-level tracery is still visible, including part of a quatrefoil at the apex and cusps below, indicating that the window originally had two lights with trefoiled heads.

On the south side, there is a second doorway to the right of center, also with a shallow pointed-arched head. To the right of this doorway is a large window with a similar head, while to the left are two lancets, the one nearest the west end retains its trefoiled head, carved from a single piece of stone. The east window features a shallow pointed head, with surviving upper-level tracery in the Perpendicular style and originally four cinquefoil-headed lights. The profile of the top of the north wall suggests that there may have been two windows.

Internally, the jambs of the openings are partially intact, and most openings feature segmental arches made of voussoirs. The exceptions are the east window and the adjacent south window, which have dressed stone arches on the interior sides. The south window retains some plastering. There is a piscina in the southeast corner with an ogee head, splayed reveals to the south lancets, and small recesses in the west gable end.

Local climate

Hen Eglwys sits in one of the wettest parts of the UK, with an average of 1,220 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 92% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 95% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 23 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 76% of listed buildings. Of these, 9 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

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